Demolition of partitions - brick

Most internal walls up to 150 mm are ordinary partitions that carry only their own weight. That is not a rule, though. In older houses with timber joist floors, part of the floor load can shift onto a partition over the years, because the joists sag and come to rest on the wall. In family houses, someone may also have used a partition as a support during an earlier alteration. A thin wall is not automatically a non-load-bearing wall.

How do you find out? The original drawings help. The owner, the building management or the local building authority may hold them. If there are no drawings, or you are not sure, have the wall assessed by a structural engineer. If the work touches the load-bearing structure, a structural engineer's assessment is essential.

Permits depend on local building regulations. Check with your local building authority before work starts whether your alteration needs a notification, an approval or nothing at all. In a block of flats, also inform the building management or the owners' association. Demolition affects the shared building, causes noise and means rubble has to be carried through common areas.

A good crew usually works in roughly this order:

1. Survey and service check: sockets, switches, junction boxes, risers and radiators are located on both sides of the wall, and a cable and pipe detector helps find hidden runs
2. Disconnecting services: a qualified electrician disconnects and makes safe the electrics, a plumber deals with water and heating pipes, and any gas pipe in the wall may only be handled by a qualified, registered gas engineer
3. Protecting the space: floors are covered with hard protection board and sheeting, furniture is moved out or wrapped, and doors to other rooms are sealed with sheeting and tape so dust does not spread through the home
4. Removing fittings: door frames, tiles, skirting, shelves and switches come off first
5. Separating the wall from what stays: where the partition meets an external or neighbouring wall and the ceiling, the joint is often cut first so plaster and masonry are not torn out of the parts that remain
6. Demolishing from the top down: the masonry is taken down course by course from the ceiling towards the floor, never by undercutting from below
7. Clearing rubble as the work goes on: rubble goes into bags or barrows and out to the skip so it does not pile up in the room
8. Final clean-up: mortar remains on the floor, ceiling and side walls are chipped off, and the area is swept and vacuumed

The usual tools are a demolition hammer, a breaker and, for a clean edge, a wall chaser or cutter with dust extraction. Heavy equipment is rarely needed. With a thin partition, a gentler approach is safer for the surrounding walls and kinder to the neighbours.

Two partitions of the same size can be very different jobs. The effort, and therefore the cost, depends mainly on:

• Material and mortar: hollow clay blocks laid in lime mortar come down easily, while solid fired brick in cement mortar takes more work
• What is on the wall: ceramic tiles, thick plaster or old paint layers add work and waste
• Services in the wall: every cable, pipe or consumer unit has to be disconnected and rerouted first
• Door frames and lintels: a steel door frame built into the partition or a lintel above a doorway slows the work
• Access: an upper-floor flat with no lift, a narrow staircase or a skip parked far away means a lot of carrying
• An occupied home: if people are living there, protection has to be more thorough and work must stay within the hours allowed by the house rules
• Room height: in tall older flats the wall is larger and the top part needs a scaffold tower or a work platform

Rubble removal and disposal is often charged separately. A masonry partition is heavy, and it produces more rubble than most people expect. Construction waste has to be handled according to local rules. It does not belong in an ordinary household waste bin.

• Demolishing without checking the structure: once a wall that was supporting something is gone, cracks can appear in the ceiling or in walls on the floor above
• Hitting a service: a live cable or a water pipe inside the partition is one of the most dangerous and unpleasant surprises
• Undercutting from below: the upper part of the wall can collapse all at once and injure someone
• Piling rubble in one spot: in older houses with timber floors, a large heap of rubble can overload the floor
• Tearing out the adjoining wall: without cutting the joint, plaster and masonry break away where the wall is meant to stay
• Underestimating dust: fine brick and mortar dust gets into ventilation, electronics and the neighbours' homes, so good protection and a respirator matter

In practice, it often turns out that a service nobody knew about is only found once the wall is opened up, or the masonry is in worse condition than expected. It makes sense to allow a little extra time and to agree with the contractor in advance how such situations will be handled.

Demolition is noisy and dusty work. The workers, and you if you are present, need a respirator, safety glasses, gloves, sturdy footwear and hearing protection. Keep windows open, but do not blow dust out into the shared stairwell of a block of flats.

If a gas pipe is damaged during the work or you smell gas, stop work immediately. Do not use electrical switches, appliances or any open flame, open the windows and leave the building. Call the gas emergency service or your local emergency number, 112 in many countries.

This item usually covers only removing the wall. Making good afterwards, meaning levelling the floor and repairing the ceiling and side walls where the partition stood, is a separate job. Clarify this with the contractor when you place the order.

At handover, go through these points:

• The partition has been removed to the agreed extent, including the door frame and tiles
• The remaining walls, ceiling and floor show no new cracks or torn-out pieces of masonry
• The joints at the adjoining walls and ceiling are straight and ready for making good
• Exposed services are safely terminated and labelled, and the electrics have been checked by an electrician
• The rubble has been taken away and you know where it was disposed of
• The surrounding areas, staircase and lift are clean and undamaged
• No heavy dust remains on floors, windows or in the ventilation